June saw a total of 9,060 available jobs, an increase of 18% from May, according to the latest Morgan McKinley London Employment Monitor.

The report also showed a decrease of 30% year-on-year for available jobs, an increase of 19% month-on-month for job seeker and an increase of 28% year-on-year for job seekers.

“Considering, we entered the month with a degree of uncertainty, it was a surprise to see so many jobs released,” said Hakan Enver, Operations Director, Morgan McKinley Financial Services. “A good portion of the jobs available came in during the last week of June, indicating that financial institutions held off on hiring until the referendum results were out”.

“We expected to see those looking for new roles holding back because of Brexit, but the 19% increase shows that professionals are also thinking about their next steps,” said Enver. “It’s encouraging to see that businesses are still investing in staff, and it’s a relief that the markets have largely absorbed the initial referendum results”.

“Since the referendum was first announced, there have been mounting concerns about City jobs moving to mainland Europe. So far, talk of an exodus has been just that: talk,” Enver said. “London remains an incredibly attractive city for investors and the UK will obviously remain a strong trading partner with EU, so people expect London to remain the leading finance centre of the world”.

“The bigger concern now is a political one,” Enver said. “With the resignation of Prime Minister, David Cameron and leadership fights across the political spectrum, it remains unclear if Britain will trigger Article 50, hold a second referendum, or work to renegotiate the terms of British EU membership. Investors are likely to hold off on making any significant decisions until they see what course of action the next government will pursue. The longer this period of uncertainty lasts, the greater its potential impact on employment”.

According to the Monitor, “a major question on everyone’s minds is: will so-called passporting privileges be revoked as a result of Brexit?”

“Passporting currently gives the UK’s financial sector unrestricted access to the EU’s single market. Were the privilege to be revoked, the selling of Ucits (Undertakings for Collective Investments in Transferable Securities) , EU based mutual funds, could be subjected to additional regulations,” Enver said.

 Meanwhile, the average salary for those professionals moving from one organisation to another was 13% in June 2016, a decrease from 23% in May. According to the report, what was apparent was less opportunistic hiring along with more junior to mid level hires being made. Both indicative of the concerns around investing during the lead up to the referendum.